Prctica Docente IV

05/04/17

Empowering Teachers through Professional Development

This article highlights some reasons for teachers to pursue professional development and it
suggests techniques for teachers to feel empowered and motivated in their English language
classrooms.

One of the main reasons to pursue professional development is to be empowered-to have the
opportunity and the confidence to act upon your ideas as well as to influence the way you perform
in your profession. Teacher empowerment leads to improvement in student performance and
attitude.

This article also explains that reflective practice is a fundamental part of continuing professional
development; it provides teachers with opportunities to analyze and ask questions about their
objectives as to examine how they plan and what they teach.

Some techniques to try out:

1. Keep a teaching journal: teachers can examine the details that indicate why a particular lesson
was successful or why one was not. They become more aware of their teaching style as well,
and they are more able to interpret their actions in a more meaningful and constructive way.
2. Sharing journals: it allows teachers to compare their experiences and to comment on solutions
to problems and point out successful parts of a lesson that they might try with their own
classes.
3. Analyze a critical incident that happens during class: this can help teachers to decide how to
modify their teaching style or behavior, which can improve your teaching performance in
similar situations in the future.
4. Try peer mentoring and coaching